Brevan Howard Capital Management LP Purchases 12,095 Shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Brevan Howard Capital Management LP lifted its position in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL - Free Report) by 353.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,517 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 12,095 shares during the quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP's holdings in Allstate were worth $2,992,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Allstate during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Twin Tree Management LP bought a new stake in Allstate during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Allstate in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Allstate in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new position in shares of Allstate during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.47% of the company's stock.

Allstate Price Performance

ALL traded down $0.05 during trading on Friday, reaching $202.57. The stock had a trading volume of 707,236 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,613,696. The business has a 50-day moving average of $198.99 and a 200-day moving average of $195.09. The Allstate Co. has a one year low of $156.66 and a one year high of $212.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market cap of $53.64 billion, a PE ratio of 11.92, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.32.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The insurance provider reported $3.53 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.98 by ($0.45). The firm had revenue of $14.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.41 billion. Allstate had a net margin of 7.28% and a return on equity of 28.20%. Allstate's revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $5.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.97%. This is a positive change from Allstate's previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Allstate's payout ratio is presently 27.32%.

Allstate declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the insurance provider to purchase up to 3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ALL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Allstate from $200.00 to $197.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Allstate from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Allstate from $228.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Raymond James reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $250.00 price target (up previously from $240.00) on shares of Allstate in a report on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com raised Allstate from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $225.20.

Insider Activity

In other Allstate news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.53, for a total transaction of $7,480,226.06. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,115 shares in the company, valued at $3,378,990.95. This represents a 68.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Allstate

The Allstate Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides property and casualty, and other insurance products in the United States and Canada. It operates in five segments: Allstate Protection; Protection Services; Allstate Health and Benefits; Run-off Property-Liability; and Corporate and Other segments.